HPV vaccines prevent cancer in men as well as women, but fewer boys are getting the shots, new research suggests
New research suggests that the HPV vaccine prevents cancer in men, as well as in women, but fewer boys than girls get vaccinated in the United States.
The HPV vaccine was developed to prevent cervical cancer in women, and experts give credit to it, along with screening. Reducing cervical cancer rates. Evidence that vaccines prevent HPV-related cancer in men has been slower to emerge, but new research suggests that vaccinated men have fewer cancers. Mouth and throat Compared to those who did not receive the doses. These cancers are more than twice as common in men as in women.
For the study, researchers compared 3.4 million people of the same ages — half vaccinated versus half unvaccinated — in a large set of health care data.
As expected, vaccinated women were less likely to develop cervical cancer within at least five years of receiving the vaccinations. For men, there were benefits too. Vaccinated men were less likely to develop any HPV-related cancers, such as cancers of the anus, penis, mouth and throat.
These cancers take years to develop, so the numbers were low: There were 57 HPV-related cancers among unvaccinated men — most of them head and neck cancers — compared with 26 among men who got the HPV vaccine.
“We think the maximum benefit from the vaccine will actually occur over the next two or three decades,” said study co-author Dr. Joseph Carey, a head and neck surgeon at Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia. “What we're showing here is an early wave of impact.”
The results of the second study were released Thursday by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and will be discussed next month at its annual meeting in Chicago. The second study shows vaccination rates are high but males lag behind females in getting HPV shots.
Human papillomavirus, or HPV, is very common and spread through sex. Most cases of HPV infection cause no symptoms and go away without treatment. Others develop into cancer, about 37,000 cases annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the United States, the HPV vaccine has been recommended since 2006 for girls age 11 or 12, and since 2011 for boys the same age. Catch-up vaccinations are recommended for anyone over 26 years of age who has not been vaccinated.
In the second study, researchers looked at self- and parent-reported HPV vaccination rates in adolescents and young adults in a large government survey. In the period from 2011 to 2020, vaccination rates increased from 38% to 49% among females, and among males from 8% to 36%.
Study co-author Dr Danh Nguyen, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said: “HPV vaccine uptake among young males has increased more than fourfold over the past decade, although vaccination rates among young males are lagging behind. Still less than females.
Parents of boys, as well as girls, should know that HPV vaccines reduce the risk of cancer, said Jasmine Theroux of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, who was not involved in the research. Young people who have not been vaccinated can still get vaccinations.
“It's really important that teens are exposed to the vaccine before they're exposed to the virus,” she said.
